Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The RCIA and the Crawfish Boil

Tuesday greetings from the frigid Midwest. Winter has finally arrived here; light snow most of the night; high winds and bitterly cold temperatures now.

My apologies for not having posted this past week. Lots of things going on in my life right now and I just haven't found the time to post. I spent the better part of this past week at the Gulf Coast Faith Formation Conference in New Orleans. Simply put, I love the good people of this area of the country. Their hospitality and charm is infectious and so warm.

At one of my RCIA sessions on apprenticeship, I talked about a conversation I had had with a waitress at a tiny restaurant the night before. She was telling me that when they do a crawfish boil, it doesn't matter what seasonings go on the crawfish after they come out of the boil. It is more about the seasonings that are added to the boil that seep their way into the crawfish themselves.

So, at my presentation, I thought I would use the crawfish boil as a metaphor for what is supposed to happen in the RCIA. We immerse the catechumens and candidates in the "seasonings" in the "crawfish pot" that is the catechumenate. The people in the room really got into this, telling me what it is they add to their own boils, things like hot peppers and oranges, and garlic. Then they made comparisons between these ingredients and the great array of all things Catholic that we share with catechumens and candidates when we put them into the "boil" that is the catechumenate. What fun we had with this topic in New Orleans! And I think, using this metaphor, that the people really "got it;" they understood that the RCIA is much, much more than just teaching the tenets of the faith. It is about immersing people into the Catholic way of life throughout the process so that it all seeps in.

I will definitely be doing more research on crawfish boils. The folks told me to do my own when I got back to Chicago, but to use shrimp instead of crawfish!

Headed to San Antonio later today for the Southwest Liturgical Conference.

About Me and the Blog

Dr. Jerry Galipeau is Vice President and Chief Publishing Officer at J. S. Paluch Company and its music and liturgy division, World Library Publications, located in Franklin Park, Illinois.
Jerry presents keynotes and workshops throughout the United States and Canada on the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, liturgical spirituality, ritual music, evangelization, and adult spiritual formation. He earned the Doctor of Ministry with a concentration in liturgical studies from Catholic Theological Union at Chicago in 1999.
Gotta Sing Gotta Pray is Jerry's blog in which he shares reflections on current events in the Church and in the world that may be of particular interest to those serving the Church.